Feb 21: Tick Tick Tick

Our time is running out now and I have to admit our focus has begun to shift back to North America. We’ve actually found the last few days a bit challenging for this reason. Having all gotten over our colds we are now trying to get caught up on sleep. Unfortunately Ariana has a lingering cough which has made this difficult.One interesting cultural exchange recently highlights one of the many differences between the North American culture and here. The water on the roof was empty and the city water had been off for a day or so. This meant the cistern in the ground had also been emptied except for a couple inches at the bottom. We tend to keep these last few inches for “emergency” use, and because running the pump dry would damage it. One neighbor came out and turned on the pump in front of our other neighbor who quickly pointed out the empty cistern. She was simply following the North American principles of saving for the future, and risk mitigation. The first neighbors response perfectly captured the alternative view of appreciating the present, “But I need it!”

Ciara has finally built up enough courage to start using a bit of her Spanish, and I have to admit it is very cute. She often mixes English and Spanish with phrases like “water, por favor”, or “para you”. At times she will even ask what things are in Spanish. Today she even spent a significant portion of time playing with another local child at the kids park by herself. It was neat to see her trying to tell the boy to go down a slide by pointing, shaking her head “yes”, and saying “Si” all at once.